As a lunar eclipse took place in the skies above the Track and Soccer Stadium last night, the Illini soccer team did some eclipsing of their own – coming from behind to defeat St. Louis 2-1 in double overtime.

Down 1-0 with just three minutes remaining in the game, the Illini got a spark off their bench.

Senior forward Andrea Ridgeway forced a St. Louis defender attempting to clear the ball, to push it out of bounds, opening the door for the Illini.

On the corner kick, senior forward Tara Hurless served the ball into a crowd of players. After the ball bounced around among the crowd, sophomore defender Sarah Brown was able to slam it in the net to tie it up.

“That was a big boost,” Hurless said. “From there we had the momentum.”

The game-winner came from Hurless on an unassisted corner kick goal with five minutes left in double overtime.

“The referee told me to hurry it up because it was already 9:45 and he wanted to get home,” Hurless said. “I told him, ‘Don’t worry, we’re going to win it right here.’ I was looking for Sarah Brown for a header and it came off the side of my foot and just curled in.”

The Illini had plenty of opportunities before the game-tying goal.

With 16 minutes remaining in the game, St. Louis goalkeeper Amanda Martin made a diving save on a header from sophomore forward Jessica Bayne.

The Illini also had a goal from a corner kick taken off the scoreboard after a penalty in the box.

“We kept continuing to take them on,” Hurless said. “We kept getting in line and getting shots; we knew that if we kept shooting that we were going to get a goal eventually.”

Illinois head coach Janet Rayfield said earlier in the week that if the Illini were able to keep shooting, the goals would come.

“We talked about working hard,” Rayfield said. “The two times we scored were not our best chances. Yet when you are working hard, you get them thinking. Their goalkeeper on that last goal had to be worried about Sarah Brown heading it in.”

Although the Illini came away with the victory, they did not play very well in the first half.

“The midfield struggled controlling the ball,” Rayfield said. “The surface was tough and things were sloppy. We didn’t do a good job of pressuring the ball and as a result, (St. Louis) was able to get some opportunities.”

Rayfield said that if the Illini are able to get two goals a game from its offense they will be dangerous.

“If you take a look across the country, teams have had difficulty scoring goals,” Rayfield said. “If we stay defensively strong, any time we score two goals we should win. Our defense is good enough to do that.”

The win moves the Illini’s record to 12-4-2 and completes an undefeated season at home.

The win could not have come at a better time, right before the Big Ten Tournament next week.

“To get a comeback win for us was a psychological boost,” Rayfield said. “To come from behind and get one in overtime was an important experience for us.”